Chair



June 28, 1960 I E. F. HAMILTON 2,942,654

CHAIR Filed May 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 k I I I I INVENTOR. 54m idem/1.701;

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-' fi-il 4544 M1 June 28, 1960 E. F. HAMILTON 2,942,654

CHAIR Filed May 5, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. 5/7/21 f H/iM/L Torr,

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June 28, 1960 E. F. HAMILTON CHAIR 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed May 5, 1958 INVENTOR. fqp: FHA/flu ram,

United; States Paten G CHAlR Earl F. Hamilton, Columbus, Ind., assignor to Hamilton Cosco, Inc., a corporation of Indiana Filed May 5, 1958, Ser. No. 732,995

3 Claims. (Cl. 155-194) This invention relates to an arm chair, and more particularly to the construction and mounting of a chairarm which includes a basic structural member formed of metal-tubing.

It is an object of my invention to produce a chair of the type referred to which can be simply and economically manufactured, which will be of attractive appearance, which will prove sturdy and durable in use, and which can be readily assembled, thus lending itself to shipment and storage in a knocked-down condition.

In carrying out my invention in the preferred form, I provide a seat having a seat-pan forming the basic structural support of the seat and mounted on a suitable floorengaging base. A chair back is mounted above the plane of the seat and at the rear thereof by a pair of backsupports conveniently formed of lengths ofmetal-tubing.

A pair of side arms also formed from lengths of metal- .tubing are connected at each of their ends to the chair seat and back to brace the back on the seat and enhance the comfort of the user. Desirably, the ends of the arms connected .to the back are bent to receive their upper ends on the back-supports whereby the arms provide a combined stabilizing and bracing effect for the back and the back-supports to produce a more rigid structure. I

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following more detailed description and from the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a chair embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the chair shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken on a line 3--3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a vertical section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a vertical section taken on the line 55 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged horizontal section showing a method of mounting the chair arms to the back rest;

Fig. 7 is a rear view of the arm-back support mount- 'Fig. 8 is a vertical section taken on the line 88 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 9 is a longitudinal section showing a method of mounting the back-supports to the back-forming members.

My invention is shown in the drawings as being embodied in an oflice side chair merely for the purpose of illustration, since my invention contemplates the provision of a chair having a seat with a back mounted thereon, in which said back and seat are braced and stabilized by a pair of side arms. In the chair illustrated there is provided a seat 10 having a seat-pan 12 conveniently formed from a sheet-metal stamping and provided with a downward projecting continuous-peripheral flange 14, the lower edge of which is turned inwardly and upwardly to form a continuous stiffening lip 16.

In the nontilting type of chair illustrated rearward support is provided by a length of met-alatubing bent into a ice general U-shaped frame to form a pair of rear-supporting legs 18 projecting downwardly from the rear of the chair seat 10 for engagement with the floor or other supporting surface. The upper portion of the frame is bent to form a pair of horizontal stretches 20 interconnected by a bight portion 22, with the stretches 20 and the bight 22 disposed below the seat-pan 12 and rigidly connected thereto. As shown in Fig. 4, the horizontal stretches 20 are pierced for the reception of bolts 24 which also pass through holes in the seat-pan 12 to clamp the rear-supporting leg frame to the seat-pan.

Forward support for the chair is provided by a pair of front-supporting legs 26 each having their upper ends bent to lie in juxtaposition with the horizontal stretches 20 of the rear'supporting leg frame. Both the horizontal stretches 20 and the upper ends of the front-supporting legs 26 are pierced for the reception of bolts 28 which clamp the front legs 26 to the frame of the rear-supporting legs 18 and thereby form a rigid supporting base for the chair.

The chair shown in the drawings is provided with a back 29 comprising a back-pan 30 and back-panel 31 spaced therefrom. As shown in Fig. 9, the back 29 is mounted on a pair of supports 32 formed from the lengths of metal-tubing with their lower ends rigidly secured to the rear stretch of the flange 14 and their upper ends extending upwardly between the back-pan and'back-panel through openings cut in the lower stretches of the overlapping fianges 33 on said backpan 30 and back-panel 31.

Interconnection between the supports 32 and the backpan 30 is provided by bolts 36 disposed in openings pierced in the supports 32 and received in nuts 38 rigidly fixed in the back-pan 30. Conveniently, the nuts 38 may be permanently fixed in. the back-pan 30 by disposing them in openings .cut in the pan and then peening their edges to retain them therein. The back-panel is secured to the supports 32 by screws 39 passing through openings in said panel and received in tapped openings in the supports 3-2.

As illustrated in the drawings, my chair is characterized by the provision of side arms 40 secured to the seat-pan flange 14 and. the back 29 and its supports 32 to enhance the comfort of a person using the chair and to brace and stablize the back 29. Each arm 40 comprises a length of metal-tubing being generally square in cross-section and bent into a general L-shape with its extreme lower end portion deformed so that its end face abuts the outer face of the flange 14 at a point substantially centered along the side of the seat 10. The lower ends of the arms 40 are rigidly secured to the flange 14 by bolts 42 extending through holes pierced in the flange and received in nuts 44 disposed in the end faces of the arms 40. As shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the end face of each of the arms 40 is provided with a plate 46 rigidly secured thereto as by welding. Desirably, the central portion of each of the plates 46 is offset inwardly and is provided with a cut-out adapted to receive one of the nuts 44. After the nut 44 is disposed in the cut-out, its edges are peened over the margins of said cut-out to rigidly retain the nut therein. By employing this construction, the nuts 44 are recessed, with their outer faces disposed coplanar with the end faces of the arms, so that the lower ends of the arms may be drawn flush with the outer face of the flange 14 .to present an attractive appearance. Further, this construction permits the entire end face of the arm 40 to abut the flange 14 to produce a more rigid mounting for supporting said arm on the seat '10. This same platenut construction may also be used in securing the back supports 32 to the flange 14 at the rear of the seat in order to preserve the same attractive appearance of the chair. 7

. secured thereto.

The opposite, or upper ends of the arms 40 extend through openings in lateral stretches of the flanges 3 3 on theback-pan 30 and back-panel 31 and are interconnected -to the chair back-29 by securing said arms to the supports 32. In- .this manner both the supports and the back are stabilized and braced against movement with respect to the chair seat 10. In providing such an arm to back mounting the ends of the arms are flattened and bent into channel sections 47 which partially circumscribe the back supports 32'and bindingly retain them therein. As shown in Fig. 6, the webs of the channels 47 are pierced for reception of the bolts 36 so that the arms 40 and the back supports 32 may be secured to the tion to the back-supports for bracing said back and backback-pan 30 by the same bolts. Conveniently, the'metal around the bolt-receiving openings in the outer faces of the arm and the back support is deflected inwardly, as

indicated at 43, to forma frustoconical seat so that the bolt may becoun-tersunk int-he arm 40. Further rigidity may be added to the arm and back support connections by riveting the two members together, as at 50. In assemblyi-ng the chair, this construction also permits an arm and back-support to be assembled as a single unit.

Conveniently, each of the arms 40 is provided with an arm-rest 5'2 disposed along its upper face and rigidly Each of the arm-rests 52 comprises an elongated bracket 54 having a web 58 embracing .the upper face'of' an arm 40 and an upstanding peripheral flange 56. A second bracket 60 having a web 64 and disposed adjacent the outer face of the flange 56, The two brackets are mounted on the arm 40 as by bolts 65 passing through openings in the upper and lower faces of the arm 40 and through openings cut' in the web 58 of the bracket 54, the upper ends of said bolts being received in nuts 66 fixedly retained in the web 64'of the brackets 60 A layer of padding 68, desirably formed from a resilient material such as foam rubber or the like, is placed over the upper face of the bracket 60, and is covered with a flexible skin 70 with the margins of said adding and skin being bindingly retained between the peripherally extending flanges 56 and 62.

Assembly of each of the arm rests may be described as. follows: The padding and skin are disposed over the upper face of the bracket 60 with their margins wrapped around the end of the flange 62. The bracket 60, with the padding and skin thereon, is. then press-fit over the bracket 54 withithe flanges '56 and ,62 :bindingly gripping the padding and skin. The arm rest is then placed on the upper face of the arm 40 and the bolts 65 are drawn up into the nuts 66 to fixedly secure the arm rest onsaid arm.

I claim as my invention: a a

1. A chair, comprising a seat having a sheet-metal seatpan provided with a downwardly extending peripheral flange, a floor-engaging base secured to the seat-pan within the extent of said peripheral flange, a back disposed above the plane of said seat and at the rear thereof, a pair of back-supports disposed-laterally inwardly from the edges of the chair back and interconnected between the rear stretch of said peripheral flange and the chair back for mounting said back on the seat, anda pair of side arms having one of their ends secured .tosaid peripheral flange adjacent the transverse axis of the seat and their opposite ends secured to the back at its connecsupports, said back-supports and arms comprising lengths of metal-tubing having the lower ends bent inwardly; an end plate fixedly secured in each of said inwardly bent lower ends Jand'having 'an apertured recessed central portion, and a nut fixedly mounted in said apertured recessed portion for the reception of .a bolt passing through the seat-pan flange for securing the inwardly bent lower ends of said back-supports and arms in abutment against the seat-pan flange. V V

2. In a chair having a seat including a sheet-metal seatpan having a downwardly projecting peripheral flange, a pair of laterally spaced back supports rigidly connected to said seat-pan and projectingupwardly at the rear thereof, an arm member at each side of the chair, each of said arm members comprising agenerally vertical stretch secured at its lower end to said seat pan and a generally horizontal stretch connected at its rear end to oneuof said back supports,-a back comprising a pair of nested sheet-metal back-pans between which said' back supports are received, the rear end of each arm member including a socket which embraces the associated back support, and a bolt extending through a wall of each socket, the back support, and one of said back pans for securing such back 'pan' and-the armto the back support.

3. A chair as set forth in claim 2 with the addition that each arm member isformed of metal tubing which, at the rear end of the arm member, is collapsed to form adouble-thickness portion bent to provide said socket.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

